Summer Scare Begins!
The chill is here!
Summer Scare is here, beginning 20 June 2025, Summer Solstice, and lasting to the Autumn Equinox when the official Halloween Season begins. Gather up your tales of ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night, maybe a zombie or two, a werewolf, even a wendigo. Readers await, sweating in the heat and wanting that chill that only your scary tales can convey. And, for you readers, rest assured that the writing is ALL done by humans, but not necessarily alive or in one piece!
Oh, and at the very bottom of this post is an excerpt from my new book From the Files of Fontaine Investigations, a paragraph or two to give you a clue as to some of the lesser known goings on in the U.S. capital city. I will be including excerpts in the weekly scary posts.
Some Scary Previews by Other Humans Here:
NOTE: Included in here are several Friday the 13th stories. I have never considered that day bad luck. In fact, I’ve usually had good things happen on that day. But for others… well, read these stories and find out.
Starting you off with Jennifer Morrow who keeps things going year round and has launched her own endeavor to give you chills even on the hottest days:
One of my fave people on here is Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ who isn’t Lovecraft scary but more of a cute scary (yes, it’s a thing) and digs up some interesting info about her home state like this:
Congrats to Lyndsey Resnick for getting Flames of Indigo ready for publication and kudos on this creepy little story:
This Friday the 13th story by Nancy Waddell deserves another look, since for all aficionados of the scary that day is everyday:
Dive into the Sticky Witch series by Natalie Phillips, which is now up to episode XIII:
More witchy goings on from Caroline Barnard-Smith in her SwampWitch series:
Just to show that scary doesn’t just come from strange creatures, R. M. Greta brings us this terrifying tidbit, interestingly written in present tense:
Another Friday the 13th story you might have missed, this one from Ian Patterson:
And Maximilian Siddell brings a comedic touch to this Friday the 13th story:
And a bit of oddity from Steve Kelsey:
Look around you, as Mary Catelli warns, for those among us:
Yet another Friday the 13th tale, this one from Jessica Maison:
The archives have been opened as John Coon shares the scare:
Side note: John is co-host of Macabre Monday (you have to go to Chat to see their stuff) and has launched a parallel Summer Scare event. If you find yourself needing more scary stuff, check them out.
This story by C.P. Night still gives me the shivers:
Shane Bzdok even did the illustration for this one:
A not actually scary but oddly eerie story by Joe Ducato comes to us courtesy of Written Tales:
You can always count on Grace Anderson-Author for something shivery:
Yeah, I know it’s a long list, but we have a lot of writers on here dedicated to this type of writing. Settle in for some great reads.
More Writers Who Produce Scary (and Sometimes Cute) Stuff (in alphabetical order):
Some writers on here who, as far as I’ve seen, write stories in that scary arena. If I’ve missed adding you here or have tagged you in error, please let me know.
NOTE: Every writer named here has assured me they don’t use AI in any aspect of their writing. I don’t knowingly promote AI-generated junk. Thanks for reading.
A. B. Frank – Victorian Vignettes – Exploring eerie elegance of Gaslamp Horror in Victorian era
Adi Out Here – Turn on the Light – Murder, mystery, sex, romance, sci-fi, horror
Amanda V Shane – Monsters & Mystics – Fantasy, paranormal romance
Andy Futuro – Cyberpunk, horror, dirtbag literature
Brian B Baker – My Head is Unraveling – Horror writer, book reviewer
Brian Schell – Horror Weekly
Bryan Beal – Dead Heretic – Cyberpunk, Science fiction
Caroline Barnard-Smith – SwampWitch
Chris J. Franklin – Tales of the Zeitgeist – Contemporary fiction, humor, horror, Science fiction, host of Wednesday House of Haiku
Colin Devonshire – Colin’s Dark Stories
Connor McGwire – Ars Corvi – Gothic, noir
Dungeon Mistress – Dungeon Mistress Chronicles
Emily S Hurricane – The Eye of the Storm – Romance, erotica, horror, gamelit
FranB – Tales at Twilight – Speculative stories with dark edge, humor
Grace Anderson-Author – Grace’s Spook Show
Jane Dougherty – Jane Doughtery’s Bestiary
Jennifer Morrow – Autumn Lives Here
Jessica Maison – Monster of the Week
John Coon – Strange New Worlds – Science fiction, horror, humor/satire
Leigh Parrish – Halcyon Horror
Lyndsey Resnick – Poison Ivy House
Michael B. Morgan – AroundSciFi - Read - Imagine - Discover
M.P. Fitzgerald – Graphomania with M.P. Fitzgerald – Darkly humorous Science fiction & horror
Natalie Phillips – Plotted Out – Cornish fantasy & dark humor
Nocturnal Narrator – Speculative Fiction and Dark Tales | Nocturnal Narrator – Dark speculative fiction, builds interactive worlds to tell strange stories
Patricia J.L. 👻🧶🖊️ – Twisting the Myths
Redd Oscar – ReddOscarWrites – Fantasy, science fiction, and horror
S.L. Stallings – Ghost Stories – Paranormal fiction, tech horror, dystopia
Sam Bartol – Ghost Notes
Scrawls of Dread – Scrawls of Dread’s Substack
Shane Bzdok – Matte Black – Science fiction, dystopian, horror
The Dread Legacies – Reimagining classic monsters
Theo Priestley – Tales of the Unexpected
Travis Blake – Dracula’s Ghost
DOOM FICTION – DOOM FICTION
And speaking of scary, an excerpt from my latest book:
From the first case file (“The Divorce”):
“How else did you think we were going to install the bugs?”
Jessica shrugged and smiled, making Zachariah laugh.
“Well, anyway,” he said, “in the basement is a hologram projector—”
“What?”
“Well, I guess that’s what it is. Anyway, I flipped a switch, and it came on, and this weird creature appeared.”
“What’d it look like?” asked Jessica, her curiosity piqued.
“Strange head like an insect—grasshopper, I think. Large eyes, small mouth that seemed made for cutting and ripping into its food. And the body was sort of like a gorilla with no hair—female, as far as I could tell.”
Read the rest in ebook or paperback (hopefully, audio will be available soon). And check out my other 4 books:
Where to Buy:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org
Apple Books | Kobo | Smashwords
Angus & Robertson | Fable
Thalia (German) | Vivlio (French/English)
Thank you for the mention! Lots of spooky stories here to read, love it!
Thanks for including me. Summerween rules, the sun drools!